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Major new partnership announced between Tesco, Diabetes UK and the British Heart Foundation

9 Sep 2014

Millions of people are set to benefit from a ground-breaking new partnership between the UK&#8217;s leading retailer and two of the country&#8217;s biggest charities.

Millions of people are set to benefit from a ground-breaking new partnership between the UK’s leading retailer and two of the country’s biggest charities.

Tesco, Diabetes UK and the British Heart Foundation have confirmed that they will join forces from early next year. The trio’s charity partnership – the first of its kind – aims to raise millions of pounds to promote healthy living.

In the UK today, there are seven million people living with cardiovascular disease. 3.5 million people are living with Type 2 diabetes, with a further 11.5 million at high risk of developing this condition.

The partnership aims to reduce the risk of both conditions by focusing on ways to encourage healthy eating and healthy cooking habits, including making it easier to choose foods lower in sugar, saturated fats and salt. The ultimate ambition for the partnership is to be a force for positive change in the health of the nation.

It will launch in early 2015 and will see Tesco, its customers, colleagues and suppliers aim to raise millions of pounds for the two charities.

Barbara Young, Chief Executive of Diabetes UK, said: “We are delighted to be part of this first-of-a-kind partnership, which is committed to improving the nation’s health and helping prevent Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

“We have already been working with Tesco over the last 18 months and have seen the phenomenal efforts of Tesco staff and customers in raising millions of pounds that have made a real difference to the lives of people with diabetes or who are at risk of developing it. It is really exciting to be continuing working with them and our new partner, the British Heart Foundation, to make a real impact on reducing the risk of diabetes and heart disease. Every year 24,000 people with diabetes die tragically young and many endure amputations, blindness and kidney failure. This innovative partnership with Tesco’s reach and focus on food and the combined expertise of the two charities backed up by real resources is an important contribution to helping families across the UK.”

Simon Gillespie, Chief Executive of the British Heart Foundation said: “We’re thrilled to be entering into a partnership with Tesco, the UK’s largest retailer, and Diabetes UK, another leading national health charity. We know that eating a healthy, balanced diet and increasing levels of physical activity can cut your risk of developing cardiovascular disease. This ground-breaking partnership is a fantastic way to get healthy lifestyle messages to millions of people across the UK.

“The sad truth is that cardiovascular disease claims the lives of over four hundred people every day. Thanks to the generosity of Tesco and its customers we will be able to continue our fight for every heartbeat, and set a new benchmark for strategic partnerships between businesses and charities.”

Greg Sage, Community Director at Tesco, said: “We’re delighted to be part of this charity partnership - the first of its kind in the UK. It’s great to be working with Diabetes UK again, and to be building a new partnership with the British Heart Foundation. We have enormous respect for the work they do, and want to help them do more. Using our collective scale and expertise, we’re going to make a real and positive difference to millions of customers’ lives. Over the next few months we’ll be working on the details of exactly how we’ll do that, so watch this space.”

Notes to editors

Last year Tesco announced a commitment to help customers and colleagues live healthier lives. This partnership is part of the work Tesco is doing to meet that commitment, alongside The Tesco Eat Happy Project, which teaches children about the food they eat, sponsorship of Race for Life and the removal of sweets from all Tesco checkouts in January 2015. In the past year, Tesco customers and colleagues have raised £13m for Diabetes UK.

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